Decompress
by VampireLibrarian
Summary: Today was a bad day for Tony. He just needs a moment to decompress and he let the vices that gripped him in college creep back in a bit. What happens when Cap walks in on him relaxing with a drink and a smoke?


Tony walked out of the meeting with purpose. Pepper knew it pushed him too far to be called into the board meeting like a child going to the principal's office but they were demanding answers she couldn't give them. "Tony, just slow down for a minute so I can.."

"So you can what exactly, Pepper? Or should I call you Ms. Potts, since as I was reminded in there, you are my boss even though my name is on the side of the building?" Tony spun on his heel and faced her. She could see in his eyes that he was beyond pissed. "Did you know that they were going to blindside me like that? I mean they asked me what the hell I do other than just travel the world with my 'special friends'. Seriously? I have saved their asses more times than I would like to admit. Yes, I know that I made you CEO of the company because I have been preoccupied but ..." He turned away from her and walked a couple of steps before he said anything he would he would regret. "Pepper, I need some time in the lab which by the way keeps them paid and sitting in those DAMN SEATS!" He took a deep breath and calmly said, "Pepper, if you still want me to attend the party as your arm candy for the night, please give me a couple hours alone in my lab." He kissed her forehead. "I will be the Tony you know and love waiting for you at the garage at 8." He turned and walked with the same purpose away from her before she could say anything else to him.

"Ms. Potts, can you rejoin us in the meeting room for a minute?" She wasn't sure how long one of the directors was standing behind her but she pulled it together, turned, smiled and nodded as she walked back into the room with him.

Tony walked into his lab and looked around at all of his projects that were in different states of finished. Testing on most were ongoing and his computers were all running a beeping as he flopped down in the nearest chair. "Friday?"

"Yes, Mr. Stark?"

Tony felt the tension in his shoulders. "I think I need to decompress." He put his head in his hands and tried taking several deep breaths. "Today was a whole case of fucked up and I think if I need to act like I'm the man Pepper wants, I need more than deep breathing and green tea."

"Should I prepare your smoke room?"

Tony thought about it looking to see exactly how much time he had until he needed to be in the garage. "I have 3 hours before I need to meet her...yes, please." He stood up as the floor opened and another flight of stairs appeared. Walking down, he knew she would not approve of what he was going to do but he needed just a bit of vice after today. He felt some calm begin as soon as he put his hand on the door plate. The room looked like a fine cigar bar. He walked behind the bar and made himself a bourbon. He downed the entire thing before he could even register that the glass was in his hand. He took in a breath and let it out through his mouth letting the smokiness from the drink fill his senses. He grabbed the bottle walking over to choose his smoke. He ran his fingers over all of the cases of cigars he had but stopped when he got to his special box. Pulling it out, he set it down to open it and exam the contents, Acapulco Gold and ACDC, the marijuana that he had been doing some pharmaceutical testing on but found that these strains worked better on anxiety rather than curing anything else. He shook his head as he took out the rolling papers and rolled himself a mixture of the two and slid the box back into the wall. "Friday, I'm going to need some music."

"What did you have in mind, sir?"

"I think a little 'Highway to Hell' is in order," he said as he drank straight from the bottle and let the joint roll between his fingers just a little bit longer before lighting it.

Steve walked into the building almost running right into Pepper. "Oh Pepper, is Tony in? He has so many cars I never know by what's in the garage if he is actually here or not." He gave her his all-American smile which could melt even the coldest of hearts.

She came out of her own mind for a minute and looked at him. "Yeah, Steve, he's in the lab." He turned to walk away and she added, "Tell him I'm sorry about today. I really didn't know it would get that bad." Before he could ask what she was talking about, one of her assistants came and got her for another phone call.

Tony lit the joint and took the first big drag off of it. _Oh this is exactly what I needed. Just a little peace before having to act like I love brown nosing all of those people._ He finally exhaled and the smoke rolled around him. "Friday, I need something mellow and relaxing. What about some Styx?"

"Sir, I don't really think that is relaxing but I'll get that playlist going for you." 'Renegade' started playing through the speakers in the room as Tony smirked taking another hit from the joint and another deep drink from the bottle.

A few minutes later, Steve put his hand on the panel to let himself into the lab but didn't see Tony in the main floor tinkering with anything. "TONY!" He looked around the room a little bit more then spotted the new hole in the floor. "So how far does the rabbit hole go?" He followed the sound of the music. Once he got to the base of the staircase, he could see that Tony wasn't in a good way. Tony had not drank in over a year and sure he smoked on occasion when he was stressed but Steve had never seen him smoke a hand rolled cigarette before. He put his hand on the panel to open the door.

"Cap, what do I owe this honor?" Tony turned his chair to look Steve in the eye. "Friday, put on something a little more to Captain Rogers liking. I'm not sure he has heard of Styx yet."

The music changed to some big band music from the 40s as Tony drank from the bottle again. "You're a mess, Tony."

Tony took another hit off the joint as Steve took the bottle from his hand. "Thanks, Captain. I know I'm a mess. For years this was the only state I truly knew." He exhaled and motioned for Steve to sit down. "It has been a rough day and I have to go play nice tonight so I fell a little bit off the wagon."

Steve took the bottle replacing the cap set it back on the shelf where it belonged. "What are you smoking, Tony?"

Tony smiled slyly as he took another long hit off of the joint. "This, my Captain, is a joint." He exhaled and looked at Steve's questioning facial expression. "Ok I understand that you are still behind the times but in the 60s you would have yelled at your kids for smoking these."

"Are you high, Tony?"

"No, not quite yet but I'm totally relaxed and I don't even care that Pepper threw me under the bus in that meeting earlier. I probably would have done the same to one of my assistants back in the day." He took another hit then offered it to Steve who thought about it for a minute then shook his head making himself a strong drink instead. "Get a cigar if you would rather one of those, Cap." Tony paused for a moment. The high was starting to creep into his brain and open him up. He felt the overwhelming need to talk about how he was feeling. "To be honest with you, it really hurt when she did that to me and I wasn't expecting to be blindsided by the board. Holy Crap, Tony Stark has feelings and they can get hurt!" Tony laughed as Steve got him a Cuban cigar and sat down next to him.

Steve lit the cigar and enjoyed the smell and the taste of a really great cigar. "You know, Tony, I think we all have to deal with crap that no one else thinks should affect us negatively but it does." He inhaled the smoke from the cigar deeply. Exhaling, he watched the smoke from the cigar mixed with the haze from Tony's joint. He remembered the message he needed to tell Tony. He wasn't sure how he would react but he felt like it needed to be said. "Pepper wanted me to tell you she was sorry about earlier. I didn't ask what she meant and she didn't offer any information."

Tony looked at Steve to see that he was holding some tension in his shoulders. "You want to talk about what is bothering you? This little smoke session has loosened me up to the point that sharing might just be caring."

Steve finished his drink and spun the glass on the edge of the table. "All of my friends from the neighborhood are dead. I feel like I fit in here in this time. What friends I do have could be my kids and all of them fight all the time." He inhaled the cigar deeply and then let the smoke slowly escape his lips. "I guess I just need a little 1940s to make me feel normal for a bit."

Tony took the last hit off the joint. He savored the flavor in his mouth for a minute before turning to Steve. "You know I can put you in a simulator and give you any time period you want. No, it's not real but it will feel as real as you want." Steve just shook his head. "Yeah I know, you miss her the most." Tony got up and got him a glass of water. "I do wish I could give you a moment with her to dance or whatever you kids called it back in the day, but that is one thing I can only give you in virtually. Unless you want me to dress up Romanoff to look like Peggy," Tony looked at Steve as he choked on his drink. "She might hurt you though just for fun."

They both laughed as they sat there listening to big band music in the smoky room finishing off their drinks. "Do you miss your wilder days, Tony? Were they calming for you?"

Tony thought about the questions while he finished off the glass of water. "There are days that I think about running off with the woman of the night, drinking until I can't remember where I am or why I'm there, and doing drugs just to blow my dad's money but then I look at Pepper and I realize that I need to fucking grow up and stop being a spoiled brat." He looked at Steve who looked a little shocked. "Yes, Cap, I know I'm a spoiled brat." He walked to the fridge behind the bar. "And I need a snack." He pulled out some strawberries and cheese and proceeded to plate it for him and Steve. "I feel like I need to prove myself and get out of my dad's shadow." He brought the plate over with a strawberry in his mouth already. "Today just made me feel like I haven't even started to accomplish that." He set the plate down between them. "And that fact alone, my Captain, is one that pisses me off more than anything else in this world. To some of those guys on that board, I will ALWAYS be Howard Stark's wayward son who does nothing but fuck up. Don't remind them that I got into college on my own merit and brains and once I was there, I excelled even though I was sleeping around and drinking all the time." He picked at a piece of cheese not looking at Steve. "I disappoint everyone in my life, Cap, even myself. That is my greatest flaw."

Steve took a strawberry off the plate. "We all disappoint people, Tony, but we can't let that define us." He looked up to see Tony looking back at him. "You are Iron Man...I'm Captain America….Screw the rest of them if that can't take a joke." Steve finally saw Tony smile a real smile, not the one he forces when he knows people need to see that he's ok. "Now let's finish our snack and then I'll make sure that you have a clear head in time to meet up with Pepper, what do you say?"

Tony put the piece of cheese he was picking at in his mouth and smiled at Steve. "As you wish, Captain." He thought about it for a minute. "Yeah, why did you come here any way?"

Steve bit into the strawberry and pondered the question. "I'm not even really sure why I came here. I just knew I needed to be out of the training facility for a little while. Helping you tinker sometimes calms me or it irritates me so I thought I would give it a try."

"Ok, then we finish eating and drinking, then we tinker. I have something I have been thinking about adding to your suit that might help increase punching power while decreasing recoil impact." Tony gave him a inquisitive look.

"Sounds like a plan, Tony." Steve stuck the cigar back in his mouth as they just sat back and enjoyed the music Friday was still playing.


End file.
